The present invention relates to variations of techniques described in application Ser. No. 08/431497, filed Apr. 28, 1995 and Ser. No. 08/466,451, filed Jun. 6, 1995 and its parent applications Ser. No. 08/391,250, filed Feb. 21, 1995, Ser. No. 08/055,856, filed Apr. 30, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,431 and Ser. No. 07/901,213, filed Jun. 18, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,679. All of the details of these applications and patents are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
U.S. application Ser. No. 08/466,451 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,431 describe unique manual sharpeners that utilize several constructions of interdigitating abrasive elements to produce very sharp edges quickly and reliably. Precision rigid angular guides are used to insure that the object being sharpened--such as a knife--is held at precisely the same angle stroke after stroke relative to the interdigitating abrasive elements. The blade is positioned by the guide at an angle so that the center line of the blade is approximately coincident with the line that bisects the vertex of the angle formed by the interdigitating pads. As a result, both sides of the edge are sharpened simultaneously.
The guides described in the earlier applications can be either roller type guides or rigid guides against which the knife blade is precisely positioned during the sharpening strokes. A manual sharpener of this type is described and illustrated in those prior disclosures with a handle that can be used to steady the sharpening section while the blade is being sharpened. The handle is of assistance to secure the sharpener against a rigid surface and to minimize the opportunity for it to move during the sharpening process.
The sharpeners described in the earlier applications and patents may have one or more primary sharpening stages such as described and commonly have two primary stages--a sharpening stage and a honing stage.